Republicans have an uncanny knack for fostering and enabling one of the nastiest tendencies in all of human nature: Victim blaming. This they facilitate, while simultaneously denying all culpability for their own mistakes and transgressions. The level of hypocrisy they so frequently exhibit flies in the face of decency, and is on occasion nothing short of mind-boggling. Flagrant and galling though it may be, I sometimes wonder whether their outrageous displays of unctuousness are entirely conscious. It ofttimes seems that their misplaced holier-than-thou attitudes are born out of habit more than anything else. Perhaps if one goes so long believing in the absolute virtue of one's actions, one eventually succumbs to near pathological delusions of infallibility. These sorts of egotism and egocentrism are indisputably hazardous, and they give rise to authoritative stances and ideologies that become unduly convinced of their own faultlessness.

It is in the GOP's interests to eschew all guilt of misconduct, while also throwing blame onto every vulnerable target in sight. From blaming Katrina victims for their misfortune to lobbing accusations at the victims of predatory loans for the subprime mortage crisis to claiming that the Democratic leadership in Congress should take responsibility for the death threats hurled against them -- and not to mention the numerous historical examples of Republican callousness and hypocrisy of which I am too young to have clear memories -- the GOP has a lengthy pattern of placing the blame for tragic occurrences on those who have been wronged. Still, even my awareness of that convention does nothing to lessen my shock at some of their more appalling finger-pointing.

And this case is really beyond the pale.  

I think it's a reasonably well accepted fact among educated individuals that Republicans aren't known for believing in or supporting women's rights. Whether it's the traditional party policy of standing against a woman's right to choose, conservative gubernatorial candidates joking that rape victims should "relax and enjoy it," presidential nominees voting against equal pay legislation for women, or the unofficial GOP spokesperson Rush Limbaugh himself popularizing the term "feminazi" to describe women who refuse to live their lives barefoot and pregnant in front of the oven, Republicans have come up with plenty of creative ways to demean women and oppose gender equality.

Image from Republicans For Rape

When asked why we were attacked on 9/11, Sarah Palin answered because the terrorists hate our freedoms.  While she has been derided for her lack of foreign policy experience, she may have come up with the most innovative program yet to deter terrorists: taking those freedoms away.  

Just like many Middle Eastern countries, Mayor Palin punished the women of Wasilla for reporting rape.  Her administration charged them substantial fees for the rape kits used to prove the crime. After being attacked, a Wasilla woman could look forward to being billed up to $1200 in return for a grueling forensic pelvic exam.

Sarah Palin has provided the ultimate example of why a female candidate is no substitute for a candidate who cares about women.  Compare Palin and Biden's records on violence against women, an issue on which both sides normally agree.  The political right may not always prioritize the cause, but it does not disagree that domestic violence is destructive of families and that rape is fundamentally wrong.  Yet Palin sailed right past apathy to downright punishment of women for reporting rapes.